London is a special place! A city with endless possibilities, unique experiences and a Pret on every corner. What’s not to love? 😉
The city offers so many different experiences that visitors and us Londoners sometimes forget how great our city is! One thing about London is that things seem to change at a moment’s notice.
All of a sudden, the things you thought were really nifty and cool suddenly become less of a bubble bath (cockney rhyme for laugh) to experience with your china plates (mates). Thankfully that variety makes London one of the best cities in the world to explore!
Take a look at 9 of the reasons why we love to hate London and what secretly makes it the greatest city in the world.
1.) We love to hate the tube
Anyone that’s ridden the tube in the height of summer at 8 am will know what I’m talking about. 42-degree heat, sweltering, sweaty bodies and an opportunity to cuddle a dewy armpit.
We love to hate those moment’s but in truth, we’re happy for those life-saving ventilation windows at the end of each carriage and being able to get around so easily. 😉
2.) We love to hate Stansted Airport
Is that even in London? 😉 Yup, it’ll take you around 45 minutes by train from Central London and it’s usually a journey for a flight that’s at 6 am. Who needs sleep, eh? 😉
Then again, we do really love a bargain flight and the fact a plane doesn’t circle for 30 minutes before landing like at Heathrow.
3.) We love to hate Leicester Square
Leicester square is the start/or end of a good night out… said no Londoner, ever! Yup, it’s almost like London’s version of Time Square.
Filled to the brim with people and an overpriced Angus Steak House (that no Londoner would ever visit). You might not enjoy the hustle and bustle of the area but secretly love that we can bag a bargain west end show from the TKT booth and spot a celebrity, or two, at a movie premier.
4.) We love to hate TFL prices
It’s a painful moment when you have to hand over almost £1,800 for a year’s underground travel card! *gulp*
No one loves handing over that sort of dosh but we secretly love the fact that we can hop on a train, bus, tram at (almost) any time of the day! :-/
5.) We love to hate Westfield on a weekend
This ultimate in torture!!! 😉 Westfield shopping centre always seems like a good idea, until you actually get inside.
Being funnelled through a street of shops, alongside 50,000 other shoppers is, well a traumatic experience that’ll leave you exhausted and down-right moody (or is that just me)!
Much as we love to hate it on weekends, it’s a shoppers dream on a Monday morning! 🙂
6.) We love to hate journey times
London seems so convenient – planes, trains, boats, trams and a shed load of Ubers make the city pretty easy to travel across, right?
Well, have you tried travelling from East to West London (or perhaps vice versa) for that coffee catch up with a friend that just called on Sunday morning? NOPE.
A 1 hour to travel for a friend just to ‘catch-up’? Can’t we just meet at your next birthday party instead? 😉
7.) We love to hate queuing for bars
It’s a Saturday night (or Thursday night if you’re a sucker for punishment) and you’ve already had a few glasses of prosecco before painting the town red.
Like any Londoner, you hate queuing for bars! Any place that needs you to queue is probably over-reaching and just not worth the hype!
8.) We love to hate rental costs
They make you wince more than cutting onions for tonight’s Spaghetti Bolognese! Those spiralling rental costs are a nightmare that makes you suddenly thankful for a shoebox room, damp on the walls and some dubious flatmates!
How did your world come to this?
9.) We love to hate slow walkers
Any visitor to London will realise how quickly you need to up your walking speed or face the passive wrath of a Londoner! 😉
Slow walking is for promenades in Italy, not on Oxford Street during your lunch break.
Read more: Best areas of London to explore
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